Eagles' Vick yet to test hammy, but likely to start

The Sports Xchange

The SportsXchangeOctober 23, 2013

PHILADELPHIA -- Michael Vick will start Sunday against the New York Giants, unless his injured left hamstring prevents the quarterback from reclaiming the No. 1 job with the Philadelphia Eagles. Vick who has missed the last two games because a hamstring injury, was a full practice participant for the second straight day Wednesday and took most of the first-team reps, which would seem to indicate that he will start this weekend But coach Chip Kelly still isn't ready to etch that in stone. He said Vick still hasn't really tried to run hard, and he's not ready to say for sure that Vick will start. Part of that is an attempt to keep the Giants guessing, even though Vick's backup, Nick Foles, is out because of a concussion, and rookie Matt Barkley threw three interceptions last week after replacing Foles. But a bigger part is that Vick still hasn't completely recovered from his hamstring injury, and Kelly wants to make sure the 33-year-old quarterback isn't at risk of aggravating it further by playing. "We're going to wait and see how he progresses and how he goes," Kelly said. "A lot of that comes from the feedback from Mike in terms of where he is. "I know he's progressed. But to put a number on it, I'm not going to put a number on it." It's unlikely that Foles, who completed only 11-of-29 passes in last week's loss to the Cowboys before he was injured, will be cleared in time play Sunday. So the only option the Eagles have if Vick doesn't go is Barkley. They signed former University of Tulsa quarterback G.J. Kinne to their practice squad earlier this week. Kinne was with the Eagles during spring OTAs and training camp before being released. If Vick and Foles both can't play, Barkley would start and Kinne would be promoted from the practice squad and back him up. Foles' atrocious performance against the Cowboys pretty much eliminated his chances of taking the starting job from Vick. He played about as poorly as you can possibly play, missing wide-open receivers and averaged only 2.76 yards per pass before being injured when he was sacked by Cowboys defensive linemen George Selvie and Jarius Wynn. "Yeah, I think he was off a little bit," Kelly said. "His feet weren't set on a couple of those throws, and in all instances, we have to do a little better job. "There were times when guys were open that we didn't get the ball on him. There were other times when we didn't get off of coverage. And there were a couple of times that we gave up too much leakage pressure and he wasn't able to set his feet."